Plants and Birds

What do we owe to feral animals?

I've been thinking about pigeons a lot lately, and where they come from. So many people around me have been parotting the same discourse about pigeons and their inherent worthiness, or lack thereof. When we all collectively hate something, I think it's worth asking why, even more so, I think it's obligatory to ask why.

The pigeons we see in our cities are largely members of the species Columba Livia. The French LPO, our league for the protection of birds estimates that 90% of the pigeons that live in French cities are members of this species. While some persist in their wild forms and wild habitats, the ones we see everyday are a domestic branch of the species. In Southern France, the wild branch of the species has all but disappeared, due to interbreeding with the domestic branch, as well as hunting.

Interbreeding with domestic branches of species, or related species is a threat to other wild animals, like the wild cat. This article explains how domestic and wild cats in Scotland started interbreeding in the 1960's, which at first allowed for greater resistance to domestic cat diseases in wild cats, but now threatens their existence as a distinct species. The same question (see this article) can be asked about wolf-dog hybrids living as wolves in the wild - I remember there was some discussion about whether a certain wolf counted as a wolf under the law, or whether it counted as a wolf-dog hybrid, which would make it's elimination easier. I really want to write a distinct article about this because I think it's fascinating, and also fundamental to thinking about the conservation of some species.

References :

• Oiseaux.net - Page for Pigeon Biset - link
• The Guardian - Wildcats and domestic cats began interbreeding in the 1960s, study suggests - link
• The Guardian - ‘We’d like to shoot them all’: growing army of wolfdogs raises hackles across Europe - link